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vendredi 29 juillet 2011

Belgian Cuisine, A Unique Experience

Moules Frites à volonté - YUM!

The picture above was taken at Restaurant Traiteur when some colleagues and I went to eat lunch one afternoon in Brussels. This restaurant is only open seasonally and with a traditional meal being its main appeal, "Moules Frites" (Mussels with fries). What's incredible is there are 69 different preparations! The interior is amazing with many paintings and photographs from historic places around Brussels. On one wall there is a replica of a famous painting featured in the movie Amélie, which consists of people outside enjoying a garden party. The white wine there we had was delicious and easily my favorite Muscadet, a wine by Vincent Caillé.

At the end of the delicious meal of mussels and fries...

A fancy Belgian waffle

Une gaufre? Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Another important part of the cuisine here is of course the waffles. There are waffle stands all over Brussels and for desert that's exactly what we had. While there was a variety of choices for waffles such as with chocolate, whipped cream, ice cream, and powdered sugar, we simply had some chocolate poured over our waffle.

Belgian Fries

Oh yes and of course les frites! French fries (surprisingly) were not originally French, they were a Belgian concoction but American soldiers during World War I called them French fries (more in part due to the French being spoken here than anything) the name stuck. Just an interesting fact that I thought could be thrown in there. Oh and of course don't forget the beer sitting by those fries! Belgium is renowned for it's wide selection of beer as well. So if you're headed here for an internship with a company, with the European Union, or even NATO make sure you explore some of the delicious local treats.

Need to improve your French so you can order your mussels properly? We offer intensive french courses in the heart of Brussels!